CARNIVAL KEEPS PRICES IN LINE, BOOKINGS UP

Carnival Corp. said on Wednesday that it expects revenue per cabin on its cruise vacations to be flat compared with last year, which should keep consumers happy and help fill its growing fleet.

Halfway through the so-called "wave period" when cruise lines garner about 35 percent of their annual bookings, Carnival said its ships are filling faster than they were a year ago. Booking activity is 20 percent ahead of this point last year, even though there are 10 percent more cabins to sell.

But prices, while higher than the average price from last year, are below what Carnival was getting in the first quarter of 2000. Carnival Chairman Micky Arison told analysts he isn't inclined to seek higher fares soon. "Part of the problem we had last year is we tried too hard to ratchet up prices and we don't want to make that mistake again," Arison said.

Carnival was forced last year to reduce prices and conduct a series of last-minute fire sales to fill ships after bookings during the wave period were weaker than expected.

Company executives reiterated their estimate of earnings in the $1.75 to $1.80 a share range for 2001, which would be an increase over 2000 when Carnival earned $965 million or $1.60 a share on revenue of $3.78 billion. Last year's earnings declined 6 percent from 1999.

Arison said bookings and pricing on Carnival's luxury brands, including Cunard Line and Seabourn Cruise Line, continue to be relatively weak, but that the luxury segment only accounts for about 9 percent of revenue.

Carnival executives said they see evidence the entire cruise industry is trying hard to keep to a strategy of offering the best discounts early, and to avoid discounts close to sailings that undercut that strategy. Arison said he sees no evidence that recent declines in consumer confidence have affected bookings.

"It's amazing how the industry seems to be independent of those kind of things," Arison said.

Tom Stieghorst can be reached at tstieghorst@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4658.